


Shadows in the Crypt [Old]

by AutumnAlchemist



Series: Shadows of the Past [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Claustrophobia, Gen, Ghosts, Injury, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Possession, Prompt Challenge, references to claustrophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22208665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnAlchemist/pseuds/AutumnAlchemist
Summary: This is the first time the heroes have ended up in a Temple when they stepped through a portal. But what was more surprising is when they have to traverse their way through it just as Wind did back in his adventure. And what other things lurk in the darkness of the Earth Temple?For the Weekly Prompt Challenge on the LU discord server! the Prompt was Supernatural week, and I chose: "Ghost of the past coming to play," "Legend of the Scardy-Link," and "Snap out of it!"
Series: Shadows of the Past [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1607149
Comments: 4
Kudos: 185





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For the Weekly Prompt Challenge on the LU discord server! the Prompt was Supernatural week, and I chose: "Ghost of the past coming to play," "Legend of the Scardy-Link," and "Snap out of it!"
> 
> This first part was getting a bit too long for my tastes, so I'm breaking the whole thing into a few chapters. Be prepared for the remaining chapters to appear in a little while.
> 
> Please let me know yours thoughts with a kudos or a comment! I'm striving to always do better with my writing and I'm getting back into the groove of things with this little thing.

If there was ever a thing that the Links all hated, it was when portals made you pass out. It could be from dizziness to nausea, to just pain, but passing out after stepping through the void portal always left a sour taste in their mouths, a dull ache in their skulls, and an short temper for some that would last hours.

Just like now. The first to awaken was the Hero of Time. He managed open his one eye, groaning at the way the dark room spun for a moment as he sat up. He could feel the feeble heat of a brazier nearby, the soft glow of dying embers the only light. He looked around, counting each head of blond hair to make sure they were accounted for. 8 plus himself, so all of them were there. Scattered around in varying positions and degree of consciousness. Taking a moment to look around, time saw that they were in a dank cave-like room, steps carved out of the stone leading to a well-like drop. The opposite side of the drop was an carved out tunnel, but it was dark on the other side, so he couldn't tell if it led to the outside or not.

The sound of Wind waking up nearby had Time turning his head, the youngest Hero slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. Sky was awake now, staring up at the ceiling of the cave with mild horror on his face. Ah. Right. Sky hated being in caves.

“Fuck! Why do they do that to us?” Wind growled, rubbing his temple to try and remove the headache. Time gave him a frown, but the youngest didn't seem to notice as he finally took in the area. He could hear Legend curse up a storm near the entrance, apparently awake too and very grouchy by the sounds of it.

“The biggest question I have, is where exactly are we?” Time couldn't recall anything like this during his quests, so he knew it wasn't his timeline. The Hero of Hyrule awoke with a startled squawk, flipping up onto his feet in a panic and tripped over the Captain, who gave a groan of pain with the foot into his thigh.

“I don't recognize this place,” Sky whispered, still frozen where he lay. Wind frowned as he looked around as well. Legend moved over to the carved entrance, frowning as he attempted to walk through only to come back a few seconds later.

“Wait... it brought me back here?” Legend questioned, confusion on his face as he went right back through, and came back to them seconds later.

Wild finally awoke with a groan, draped over Twilight who stirred as well as they both sat up, trying to see where they were. Four finally awoke too, having been hidden by the rising steps towards the opening.

“Oh fuck....” Wind whispered, his face dawning in recognition and horror.

“You know where we are?” Legend asked, arms crossed as the Captain was now trying to do the same thing he had just been doing, with little success.

“Yeah.. I know where we are.” Wind stated, turning to them all slowly as he worried his lip.

“We're in my timeline... and this is the entrance to the Earth Temple.” To see Wind's normally cheerful and vibrate face be filled with dread didn't sit well with Time. He frowned, moving to stand himself and glanced back towards the hole in the ground.

“What's so bad about this place?” Four asked, rubbing his neck as stepped up towards the youngest. Warriors and Legend seemed to have finished their attempts of leaving through the opening while Sky was starting to calm down, if slightly.

“Well... I hope you guys are prepared for a lot of darkness.” Wind stated, standing and dusting himself off. “Because if we can't go through there,” he pointed over towards the dark corridor, “then we can only go forward through the Temple.” Hyrule came over and helped Sky stand as Wild and Twilight dusted themselves off.

“Well... what do you think, Old Man?” Captain asked, wondering exactly what the other older hero thought. He frowned, closing his eyes in thought. There didn't seem to be any ways out other than down, but that could also be dangerous, if by Wind's expression.

“I don't think I'd be the best bet to lead in this place,” Time stated, turning to look at Wind. The young Hero glanced at all of them, seeing confusion and concern. Wind inhaled before he let it out slowly.

“Alright. I'm honestly not sure why we're here. But if this is really the same Earth Temple, then I should let you know about what to expect down there.” He paused, seeing everyone's attention was on him.

“Be prepared to see a lot of skulls lying around. Also ReDeads, Floormasters, Bubbles, Poe's, Stalfos, and a few Moblins.” Wind counted down the amount of enemies on his fingers, as if trying to remember all that there was.

“Going through this place and getting Medli to the end for her to pray was... interesting to say the least.” With a sigh, the young hero looked at everyone. “If we're gonna go through here, then we gotta have a least some form of plan. First part of the plan: Don't get caught by Floormasters.” Hyrule and Legend gave a shiver, seemingly understanding what the other Hero was talking about. Without another word, Wind motioned for all of them to follow and jumped down into the darkness below. One by one they followed, the last being Twilight and Time, though poor Sky has to go down with one other person.

“I don't like this...” Twilight muttered, his body tense as he looked at Time. The other nodded in agreement, pursing his lip. He didn't like this situation, but they had little choice in the matter. Twilight dropped down and then lastly, Time did.

Through some form of magic he didn't hit the ground hard, landing softly and safely on his feet. The other 8 hero's were crowded around the small platform that they had landed on, the door in front of them over on another platform. He honestly could jump up himself and pull himself up without an issue, but a few others such as Four and Wind would have to be helped up.

“Alright, so I think most of you guys can get up without a problem, but this is just the beginning of obstacles,” Wind piped up, rifling through his pack and suddenly pulled out a large leaf? Time has never seen him use that and he found himself very confused.

“I can use my Deku Leaf to float over, but I gotta hold it with two hands, like this,” he explained, holding the stem in one hand and bending the leaf over his head like a glider of sorts. “The Great Deku Tree gave it to me and through some magic I can float in the air for a bit! But for everyone else... I'm not sure how we can get over there?” He pondered, tapping his face with the overly large leaf that it was slightly comical. Sky looked at his Sail cloth for a moment before he shook his head, having apparently debated with himself.

“Well, I've got my Glider so I can get over. Maybe someone could hang on and I can get them over?” Wild suggested. Legend gave a hum before he knelt down and started to rifle through his own bag with Hyrule peering curiously over his shoulder.

“The place is a puzzle in all the sense of the word. I had Medli, a Rito girl who was the new Sage, help me out with a bunch of puzzles. Seeing as she could fly up to places.” Wind commented, now trying to figure out how they would access through the Temple. Legend pulled out a long flowing white cape out of his bag, a smirk of triumph on his face.

“I've got this, so I should be covered,” he commented, wrapping it around his shoulders and pinning in place with the crystal pin. Four seemed to realize something and did the same, rifling through his bag only to frown, and look some more.

“It's... missing?” He whispered, frustration on his face as he continued to dig into the magical bag. “I swore I had one too!” He hissed, sticking his whole arm into the void that was the bag but it looks like he was coming back with nothing.

“My cape is gone!” Four looked more than pissed and Time could certainly understand. If he had one of his own items taken he would be upset too. It was with that statement that had everyone now checking what items they had.

“Ack! Where are my Medallions!?” Legend shouted, searching his tunic for his necklace but it apparently was missing.

“My Clawshots!” Twilight exclaimed, his face furious as he pulled out a variety of things.

“Mine are gone too! And so is my Beetle!” “My Hookshot is missing...” “So's mine...”

All in all, everyone of them had something missing from their items, the atmosphere between them tense with a supposed thief either among themselves or in the monsters. No one knew which one was worse.

“The worst thing is, I can't find my shield! That's gonna be my life-saver in this place and having it ahead of time would make it all a cakewalk!” Wind shouted, his face scrunched up in his rage as he found a nearby skull of some creature and he kicked it, hard, sending the brittle bone careening into the air and crashing into dust against the nearest wall.

“What kind of shield was it?” Warriors asked, moving to see his own was in place but he didn't feel like grabbing it.

“My Mirror Shield. This place is a puzzle of 'reflect light onto things and make them appear!' Or use light to try and make enemies and hidden chests appear. Especially with the Poe's. Ugh!” Wind was now pulling at his hair in frustration, seemingly lost in his tirade of rage. During this, Legend looked thoughtful before he dug into his bag for a moment and gave a sound of triumph, and pulled out his own shield.

“I think I got that covered, buddy,” Legend stated, smirk on his face as he held up the reflective surface. Wind stared for a long moment, eyes narrowed before he just groaned an held up his hands.

“You know what. If I'm missing my own shield, then we have some weird time problems on our hands. Uh... no offense,” he turned to give Time a nervous smile and then grew back to being serious.

“I remember this place pretty well. And if we wanna get out of here, then we need to get going.” Here, Wind stepped towards the ledge, Deku Leaf clutched in his hand before he paused and looked at the group again.

“You're gonna have to listen to me if we all wanna make it out of here.” Time frowned at that but he knew it was the truth. Wind knew this place much better than the rest of them, and with whatever was happening, it was better to have the one with the knowledge leading them, than someone who didn't.

“Then I let you make the decisions, Sailor,” Time stated, a small smile on his face. The youngest was surprised but it morphed into a grin, and with that he took a running start to glide over, the magic of the Deku leaf keeping him afloat until he landed on his feet.

“C'mon! Let's get moving so we can get out of here!” It's with that statement that got the Heroes moving, following the youngest into the Temple proper.

If there was a way to describe what the place was like, it would be like a crypt. The air was musty, clinging to your lungs that smelled of dust and death. Darkness obscured a lot of things in the corners, making someone jump in surprise with a sudden shift in them. So far the puzzles seemed rather benign, Legend having to play statue with his shield up to direct light in various places, much to his displeasure.

There was also some fog that Wind pointed out that would curse them, making them weak and unable to fight with any weapons. Though admittedly when he asked Legend to shine the light from above into the fog, showing a large peg, Time had to laugh when Wind dashed forward and pulled form his bag an impossibly large hammer shaped like a skull, and promptly slammed it it down on the peg to open the door next to them. Legend's jump of surprise made him drop the shield, and Wind yelped as he was consumed by the fog.

He crawled out, his face showing absolute displeasure as he knelt there, panting as the wisps of fog swirled from him, and he glared at Legend. The other hero had the decency to look a tad sheepish, before Wind was staggering to his feet once more and motioned for them to follow through the door that opened, the other one locked.

The place was crawling with various enemies, some more than what Wind had described would be in the temple, but they were easily dispatched even with the enhancement of the infection taking place. But what surprised them was deeper into the dungeon. The nine hero were in a in a rather small room where below them were 6 crypts standing upright. Wind gave a loud groan before he just hopped down.

“Just stay up here for a minute. I got this. Now which one had the key in it?” He muttered, not hearing Wild jump down with him in his curiosity. Wind got close to one, the vibrations of his food making the stone lid fall down to reveal nothing of importance. Just as he was about to approach the second one, the sound of another lid dropping caught his attention. He turned, just to see Wild approaching the emaciated figure that was in the coffin.

“Wait-” He tried to call out, but it was too late. What Wild thought was something like a Shiekah monk from his own adventures was nothing like that. It moved it's head in the direction of his movements, surprising the hero. And in that moment of surprise it rose up, the hollow eyes glowing red and it gave the most fear-inducing screech he's ever heard. It was as if the soul that was trapped in was angry at the world and could only satiate it's desires through others and consume the warmth of light

_SKREEEAAAAAAAAAAH!_

Wild was frozen, his ears ringing with the sound that made his heart pound in his chest, knees giving out on him and unable to move. The other Heroes were stuck too, the sound making a few of them relive darker days that kept them from moving. Just as the corpse was upon Wild, mouth open so wide it could bit his shoulder clean off, Wind was moving quickly, sword drawn and he thrust it up into the mouth of the ReDead. The guard of his sword stuck between it's teeth, preventing the thing from consuming his arm. Wind kicked out his foot on the thing, dislodging it from the sword and put some distance between Wild and the ReDead, and he was back in action.

It was with swift and precise strikes that soon it was down, the magic leaving it in wisps as black blood pooled where it lay on the ground, disintergrating into nothing but left a stain on the ground. Wind stood, panting for a moment before he put his sword away and turned to Wild, who still sat on the ground.

“You okay?” He asked, reaching his hand out to help the older one up. Wild took it, shaking on his feet as he tried to catch his breath.

“What was that thing!?” He exclaimed, face twisted in horror where the body had been, that had almost taken a chunk of him with such an impossibly wide mouth.

“ReDead. Annoying as hell to destroy. Let me get the key and we're out of here.”  
  
Wild stared at Wind for a long moment.

“How did you not be affected by that thing?” He questioned, shaking as he climbed up the latter to follow Wind after he had grabbed the key.  
  
“I stuck my fingers in my ears.” It was said so nonchalant that nearly threw the Champion into another moment of frozen terror. But when they both got up the other Heroes had been just as fearful as they had been.

“I don't know if it's a good thing that I never had to deal with that or not,” Sky stated, clinging to Warriors as he looked down.

“Ugh... What are in the other ones?” Legend asked, twisting a finger into his ear to try and stop the ringing.

“2 more ReDeads and some Rupees. Not worth it. Let's get out of here.”

Time had to the calm his racing heart, remembering the many hear stopping moments of his own adventures with ReDeads, and helped guide a shell-shocked Hyrule out of the room.

“Are there more deeper in?” He asked, tentative in wanting to even know that.

“Yeah, there are more.” Perfect... just perfect.

“Nayru give me the strength to keep going...” Time muttered, wondering if the Goddess would even want to listen to his prayer. It would be a blessing if they did actually listen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the end is over and we get to see all the Links work together

The next room they were to go to was nearby, and the Heroes were told to stay put by Wind as he unlocked the door.

“I gotta do this part myself. I'll be back in a bit.” Before anyone could follow, the door closed and was barred, leaving the others to sit outside and wait.

“I wonder what he has to do himself?” Hyrule asked as he knelt on the ground, rummaging around in his bags for a variety of things.

“Don't know. But I hate how he had to keep us out...” Warriors chimed in, his face set in a frown as he tapped his foot.

Twilight was pacing near the steps, arms crossed in his anxiety as Wild watched him, the latter still a tad shook up over his near-death experience.

“Okay your pacing is getting pretty annoying,” Legend snapped, having watched Twilight pace himself. The other turned to glare at him before he went down the steps further into the other room, apparently not wanting to deal with the other heroes foul mood.

Time directed a look to Legend, who just scoffed but didn't make any move to go and apologize. Sky had moved to Wild, the latter now pulling out his slate and began to look through pictures together to help ease the other's high anxiety. Four was kneeling down now as well, curious to see what the taller ones had.

They were startled when the bars that were over the door rose up, and minutes later stumbled out Wind, who looked a little singed and dirty, but he had a triumphant grin on his face.

“I got my Shield!” He crowed, holding the sparkling beauty up. It was polished brightly, able to reflect light and your face with ease, the details etched into the silver glass showing it was commissioned by the Royal Family.

“With two Mirror Shields, we can get this done quick now!” Wind chirped as he motioned for them to follow. “Lets get back to the main room and go further in.” The other heroes followed, a bit of light showing in the darkness that was their current situation.

Coming down the stairs they saw Twilight with his back to them, his hand twitching but he didn't move.

“Hey! Let's get going!” Wind called out. But Twilight didn't move. That made the young hero pause.

“Come on, Farmhand. Let's get going and we can stop listening to-” Warriors started, having walked up to pull the other out of his thoughts, but suddenly he had sword pointed at his face, aiming for the throat. He jumped away, drawing his own blade to deflect it.

Twilight stood there, but he wasn't himself. In fact, the glaringly obvious part was the mask on his face.

“He's been possessed!” Wind called out, bracing himself as well as the other's.

**“Look at this!”** Twilight cackled, glee in his voice that was crossed over with the sickenly evil of the Poe's. **”It took one moment of distraction and I already have him! Oh Master Jalhalla will be pleased! But first! I have to deal with you nasty Heroes!”** The possessed Twilight moved into a more appropriate battle stance, and yet no one wanted to fight one of their allies.

No time was wasted as Warriors was now engaging in battle with the other, playing defensive in an attempt to not hurt his friend.

“Snap out of it! Fight him off!” The Captain called out, but he was ignored and his sword knocked away. Wild came in, ramming into the other's side with solid force before skidding back, cursing at his lack of a true weapon to use. Hyrule moved to try and grab at the mask but it ended with the Ordonian sword slicing at his leg. Four moved in to knock it away but it ended with a backhanded fist to the face, careening him into Hyrule and both skid back.

He stood back up, and was laughing once again in that mockery of Twilight's voice. **”Pathetic! You can barely raise a weapon against your friend! Oh how weak you are, that you can't even fight one of your own! This will be too easy.** He charged over to Time, who deftly blocked the rapid strikes, pivoting when the possessed Hero moved to his blind side and blocking the deft roll the other tried to use against him.

Suddenly Twilight shouted in pain, dropping the sword to the ground and just behind him, Time could see Wind and Legend reflecting the light upon him. Time took this time to drop his sword, his knee coming up the get the younger in the gut, and he offered a silent apology and then threw the other to the ground. He was blinded for a second with the reflecting lights but he took the moment the other was winded and grabbed at the porcelain mask.

“Get. Out. Of. HIM!” Time snarled, but the other managed to throw him off. It was a scramble for a moment between the two, and Time got the upper hand once more by shoving his gauntlet fist into the mask. A spiderweb of cracks went through the surface, and the sound of bone and cartilage. With a shout, Time ripped off the broken mask and revealed the pale and stunned face of the other hero below him.

The Poe materialized beside him, giving a shriek of rage and attempted to latch onto Time, but the combined forces of the shields made the incorporeal form solidify. It was now vulnerable. With a yelp, it began to run around the room, attempting to doge the barrage of attacks from the other Links until it was defeated in a puff of smoke.

Everyone stood around, stunned and lost for a moment, and then they looked to Twilight.

“Andyone get da name of dat horse that ran meh ober?” Twilight managed out, his eyes bruised and bloodshot, nose even more so and misshapen, blood running down his face while he looked more than a little dizzy.

“No. It was a Poe, not a horse.” Time moved himself to help sit the other up, more blood now pouring down his face from his broken nose instead of the back of his throat.

“Anyone else injured?” Time questioned, looking to see Hyrule limping from the slice to his leg, Four was holding his stomach, and Warriors was holding his hand.

“So... What habbend? I dun remember...” Twilight asked, confused over his injuries and everyone else.

“You got possessed by a Poe. They have a tendency to do that if they lose their lantern,” Wind responded, moving to look at Twilight with a guilty look across his face. “I'm sorry you got hurt because of it.” Twilight just blinked a few times before he managed to give a shaky smile.

“I hate to break up this moment, but I think we should tend to our injuries before we get too carried away.” Legend commented, digging around in his bags and then shoved a potion into Twilight's hands, moving over quickly to go do the same for Hyrule. Time blew air out slowly, as if he was decompressing his own worry, and looked at Twilight.

“Let's reset your nose before it's healed.” Twilight groaned, but allowed the older hero to reset the cartilage and bone with a loud yelp of pain, and then he carefully drank the potion down. His color began to return, the bruising slowly shifting away, and the bleeding had stopped.

“I don't know what's worse... blood in the back of my throat, or this damn thing,” Twilight groaned as he put the empty bottle aside, holding the back of his hand to his lips in an attempt to stave off being sick. Hyrule looked to be in the same situation, but he had Legend to talk his ear off.

“Let's get moving before more appear... and more things happen to us.” Time stated, looking to Wind and nodded. “Lead the way, Sailor.”

With everyone back on their feet, the group headed back out towards the main room, a puzzle with two mirror shields, the descended further down into the Temple that was beneath the statue.

It was across a bridge that was above a chasm filled with the same fog from before, patrolled by no less than 5 Bubbles and a Moblin at the end. Several arrows later they crossed the bridge to a large stone tablet, etched with a harp and notes at the bottom.

“Uh....” Wind started, remembering this part. “We might be stuck...” He mumbled, scratching his head.

“What do you mean?” Wild asked, confused at what the young hero meant. Wind looked at the other and frowned. How could his meaning not be any more clear?

“I mean, we might be stuck here. When I first went through here, Medli was able to play the song of the sages connected to this place and move this. Well... Medli isn't here! And I doubt anyone has a harp to play on to guess what! We're stuck!” He exclaimed, face growing pink in his anger and frustration. A sense of dread fell upon the group as they realized this crucial part. They really were going through everything that Wind had done in his quest, but since there was a crucial member missing, it seemed almost impossible.

“A harp?” Sky asked before he knelt down to his bags. “Maybe... maybe this could work?” He asked and pulled out a beautiful golden Lyre. The group looked at him in surprise.

“You can play?” “Wow! That's beautiful!” “I wouldn't think you had any musical talent in you, Chosen.” He gave a nervous smile as he plucked a few notes on the strings.

“I'm not the best. My Zelda gave this to me, and she hasn't asked for it back before... well. It could work for us.” Wind was thoughtful for a moment, turning to look back at the tablet and nodded, giving a smile.

“Well, it needs some specific notes, but I remember how it's supposed to go.” Wind pulled from his sleeve a delicate looking baton, silvery white and glowing with magic.

With some trial and error, the two figured out how to play the exact song, and with Wind being the conductor, Sky played the soft melody upon his harp. Nothing happened for a moment, before the tablet shook, scattering dust everywhere and soon it revealed another door.

Wind gave a smile and they continued forward. The next room however, they were greeted with the sight of two ReDeads greeted them, their forms still as they sat before a column each. Everyone collectively kept themselves quiet as Wind crept forward, drawing his shield as he came to the center between the pillars where a shaft of light was pouring in. He turned the one on the left and made a few signs with his hand.

_Shine light first then kill._ The rest of the Heroes understood and they split themselves into groups of 4. Wind waited a moment before he reflected the light upon the first one. It gave a groaning noise as it seized up in pain. It was within that moment that the first group of four descended and utterly destroyed it, having no chance for it to attack them at all. The second didn't fair any better against the onslaught of weapons and Heroes.

With the immediate threats removed, the Links looked around. The room was in disarray, one column was utterly destroyed, and in each corner were two large, ornate mirrors, rusted and caked to the floor with no means of moving them, and on each side of the room were two large statues, a familiar symbol upon their heads.

“So... Mirror puzzle?” Time asked and Wind nodded. “Each door leads to a room. And if I remember right...” He paused and pulled a map from his pocket and studied it. “We each could go in a direction... but the one leading that way,” he pointed the one one on the West end of the room, “has a mirror like that over there that one has to pull. So... unless you have something to enhance your strength? I don't think you should go there.”

The plan of dividing and conquering sounded good, and the groups split up. Though when they found themselves meeting back up, they all looked to one another, and collectively groaned.

“Floormaster?” Legend asked as Time stepped forward, all of them checking each other to ensure no one was too hurt. “Yep. It was a maze of columns that were obscured by that fog. Our Champion went in and had to maneuver through that place.” Wild gave a shudder.

“Yeah. We had something like that. I pushed the mirror with my power gloves, but trying to get through the fog as well to get to it was... interesting.” Legend commented. It was from here that the group continued forward, finding more corridors and enemies to face, puzzles with the bending of light and mirrors.

“How many more mirrors are there!?” Legend asked as he pushed the fifth one into place, panting with effort even with the help of his power gloves.

“In this room or the rest of this place?” Wind asked as he climbed up a small pedestal and aimed the light onto a section of wall that crumbled.

“....I hate you.” Legend grumbled, Hyrule moving forward with his own power ring to begin tugging as well, looking well winded by the effort in pushing the gargantuan mirror. Time came up as well and with two they got that one into place rather quickly.

Through the combined effort of two mirrors they opened the last door. But before going in, Wind stopped them all from entering.

“Okay, this should be the last door that leads to the key.... but it's gonna be a tight room.” He pursed his lips and turned thoughtful.

“We don't need everyone in there. Maybe... 3 of us should go in? 5 max.” He looked at them, wondering who should come along with them.

Sky was the first one to volunteer, giving a small smile at him. Time did the same, nodding to the other. Four offered his hand in battle with a grin, and the last was Hyrule himself. That left Warriors, Twilight, Wild, and Legend out of the fight.

“Alright. Let's all be careful. I think it's a Darknut but... with how this place has been...” Wind trailed off, before they entered the door. In the dimly lit room, the door closed and barred behind the group of Heroes. Before them was not one, but 3 Darknuts, clad in thick armor and large swords held aloft. Flanked by them were skulls of deceased, and also a pair of Moblins.

The Moblins charged in first, their bulldog faces frothing with rage as they tried to strike down the group. Time was stabbed in the shoulder by a spear, but he powered through the pain to deliver a strike into it's neck, black blood pouring from the wound as Sky came in and dealt another quick blow. Four was darting too quickly for the slow Moblin to strike at, and it was the distraction needed for Hyrule to cast Jump and slam his own sword into the back of the Moblin's neck, Wind coming up and shoving his own blade into a seam at it's side. The beasts fell, leaving the five to look at the group of Darknuts. It was a silent stand off, before the one in the middle moved fist.

With a battle cry, it was a flurry of movements and sword strikes, dodging from heavy strikes that would have left someone with serious injuries. It was a dance that every Link had to figure the moves out to and not die in the process. Time had just staggered one of the Darknuts back, knocking the blade from it's hand, and saw from the corner of his eye Wind roll out of the way, only to turn and with a shout sliced up the back behind the monster, it's armor falling off with a loud clang and leaving it vulnerable to attacks.

The older hero dodged to the side from another strike, pivoting himself and finding the same seam that Wind had on his Darknut, slicing it from bottom to top, and in the process he knocked off the helmet to his adversary. Hyrule came over to help, a smile on his face as they kept him distracted.

Four and Sky tag teamed the last one, Four easily slipping behind the behemoth of a monster and sliced through the cord that kept it's armor affixed, Sky using his swift movements to confuse it and leave it reeling with stab wounds that surrounded it's jack of plates.

It was with a resounding clang with the battle over with that the 5 heroes slowly relaxed, seeing that every one of them were safe from too much harm. Time had his shoulder wound and Four was sporting a bruise over his stomach. Hyrule seemed to fair rather well, and he offered to heal their injuries without any effort, as Wind moved to the once barred room, opening the ornate chest and pulled out the large key with a grin.

“We can get out of here!” He exclaimed, giving a wide smile that was rather infectious to the others. With a pep in their step, they headed out of the room to the others, giving grins.

“Let's get out of this place! The quicker we go to fight Jalhalla and hope this mess is over with.” Wind was the quickest out of there, the others following just as quickly. They were tired of the darkness and the way the Temple acted as a tomb for the fallen.

With some shenanigans involving gusts of wind, power gloves, a pair of hover boots, and stupidity that actually worked, they all made it to the crumbled platform that lead to a large door, locked with an intricate lock. There were a few pots leaded up to it and Wind moved over to one of the pots and laughed.

“Hey girls! Could you help us please?” He called in, only to take his head back out for three fairies to appear, looking skittish but wanting to help. He coaxed them out, holding his hand out for one to daintily stand in his hands.

“Please help us? We could all use a small pick me up?” He asked. They gave a nod, and with the use of magic, healed some of the more minor wounds they sustained, coming over to nuzzle against Time and Hyrule happily.

“So... how do we fight against this Jalhalla?” Warriors asked, taking his scarf off and folding it to put away into his bag. Wind gave a hum, eyes closed as he tried to remember.

“It's basically a bunch of Poes all together into one form. There are three spots to open for light, and you fight it like any other Poe except you pick him up and throw him into some spikes. So those of us that can lift should do that part.” He had everyone's attention and he found himself faltering for a second, trying to remember what else he could do.

“Uh.... he can inhale air and blow it out through his lantern, trying to scorch us. Fireballs too. Oh! And he can exhale enough air to force us back into those spikes.” Wind hummed in thought, trying to remember if there was anything else.

“I don't think he had any other attacks. But... keep your eyes open. Maybe he's been empowered like the others.” With those words of warning, everyone agreed and followed through the door with the Hero of Winds. Once all 9 Heroes stood inside the room, they were greeted with the sight of not 1, not 5, not even 15, but 50 Poe's running around in the large, high ceiling room. Suddenly they all stopped, and turned to the direction of the Heroes. In the center of the room a mask appeared, floating in the air, and then cackled before the large group of Poes soon converged onto the mask.

They watched in horror as a body grew from the mask, large and bulky, translucent like a ghost. It laughed at them, having a large lantern appear in it's hand and without preamble it began it's attack. The Links scattered, all trying to gauge what their enemy would do, though it seemed to focus more on Wind at this time.

Time noticed that there were three shafts of light in the room, but just as Legend noticed as was about to pull out his shield, all of them started to dwindle and close, the sound of a heavy metal shutter closing making him look up. Sure enough, they were closing, about to leave them all in the dark.

“Wait! What's that?” Sky called out, and pointed over where a large crank and chain was slowly unwinding itself.

“That must keep the shafts open! Someone has to wind it!” Warriors shouted, dodging a fire breath attack. Hyrule and moved quickly, both holding onto the handle and turned it as quickly as they can.

“It didn't have this before!” Wind shouted, yelping as he had to try and stamp out the fire on his pants from spreading. “Someone shine the light now please! I'd like to keep my hair-ACK!” Wind exclaimed, ducking and rolling away from the incoming fire breath from Jalhalla. Legend slid over and aimed his shield. The light reflected off the polished surface, aimed right at the Poe boss. It gave a shout of surprise, flailing in the air for a moment, before it became solid and fell to the ground.

“I got this!” Time shouted, his gauntlets gleaming for a moment in the light before he grabbed the beast up. With effort, he picked it up, and found a column of spikes off to the side. With a shout, he threw the beast into the spikes, watching it bounce for a moment before it cried in pain, and then in a puff of smoke, dissolved into the numerous Poe's as before.

It was a mad dash to try and destroy as many as before, Hyrule and four letting go of the crank to help dish out pain as well. It was a rinse and repeat cycle, broken up with a few new attacks from the beast. Especially when it jumped up into the air and then attempted to crush Legend but the other was too quick-footed to be caught in the immediate range, though he did stumble with the shockwave.

They were down to only 5 more Poe's left, and it seemed the beast that was Jalhalla was starting to get desperate. He inhaled deeply, blowing himself up to even larger proportions, and what everyone thought was going to be his fire breath attack, he faked them out by launching into the air for a belly slam, and then continued to bounce around.

Wind was cursing something fierce, but no one had the heart to stop him when he was the intended target for the monster's attacks. Jalhalla finally stopped only to finish exhaling, attempting to stagger the group into the large spikes. They managed to hold on to one another, keeping from sliding too far back, before Warriors and Time were moving the crank as fast as they could. Wind was the closest to a light shaft and aimed. The ghost solidified once more, and Legend with a shout, heaved the beast into the spiked column once more.

The last few Poe's died quickly, leaving the mask stunned with it appeared once more, only to find it's minions were gone. It turned it's pig-like face to Wind, before attempting to slink away into the darkness.

“Oh no you don't!” Wind shouted and in the last bit of light remaining, he aimed his shield to reflect the light, and caught the mask of Jalhalla in it's beam. It froze, a shout of pain escaping it, before it fell down, shattering on impact into numerous pieces that soon dissipated into smoke. There was a chorus of cheers from all of the Links, as the room began to glow a soft blue light from the emblem on the floor.

“Woohoo!” Wind cheered, before he unceremoniously fell backwards and just laid on the ground. “it's done with...”

“Is there a reason the floor is glowing?” Wild asked, leaning against Warriors as they both attempted to catch their breath. Wind turned his head to look at the emblem that glowed, and he groaned.

“Really? REALLY!? I have to do this as well?” He called out before he sat up.

“So what was it that you had to do?” Four asked, removing his headband to wipe at his face from sweat and soot.

“Okay, so I had to empower the Master Sword with the prayers of the Sages to give it the power to repel evil. So I just stuck the sword into the crevice in the middle and Medli and I played her song. So.. Do I have to do that again?” He turned to look at Sky, who gave a small smile in understanding.

“Let's try then?” He unsheathed the Master Sword, and held it out to Wind. With the exchanging of hands to another Hero, Wind inhaled and then exhaled, smiling, and then carefully moved to place it where it needed to be.

It was a tense moment as Sky pulled out his harp, both Heroes quiet before Wind began to conduct, the beautiful notes flitting around and echoing in the chamber. From beside Sky the ghostly images of a beautiful Zora and a young Rito girl appeared, playing in sync with the Hero playing. With the last notes drifting off into the air, the whole atmosphere in the Temple seemed to relax, as if a tenseness that had been held inside was released. A weight seemed to lift off of everyone as Wind went to pull out the sword, and handed it back to Sky.

“Thanks everyone, for helping me get through this place. I'm just glad we're all safe.” Wind gave a smile as he looked back to the glowing emblem still.

“Let's get out of here, before anything else happens.” He reached out his hand and grasped onto Legend, and then his other grabbed Sky's. In a circle together, joined hands, they stared at the glowing blue portal, and then stepped forth into the light.

The air whipped around them, and before they knew it, they were swept away into the light, no longer needed in Temple. But they were unaware that they had been watched, and a laugh echoed around the chamber.

_“Interesting... perhaps the next tactic will have to be different...”_


End file.
